Psalms · Felix Mendelssohn
Cyrillus Kreek
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir · Daniel Reuss, conductor
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Tõnu Kõrvits
Moorland Elegies
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Risto Joost, conductor
Track listing
9 tracks · 54:16Listen to samples on selected tracks.
Tõnu Kõrvits
- Moorland Elegies 54:02
- 1 1 Come, Walk With Me 5:52
- 2 2 Silent in the House 5:58
- 3 3 The Night is Darkening Round Me 5:57
- 4 4 Fall, Leaves, Fall 5:06
- 5 5 She Dried Her Tears 7:21
- 6 6 Moolight, Summer Moonlight 3:45
- 7 7 The Sun Has Set 5:39
- 8 8 The Starry Night Shall Tidings Bring 6:03
- 9 9 Month After Month 8:35
About this recording
Ondine continues its series of works by Baltic composers with a new exciting release. This disc features Moorland Elegies, a 50-minute work for mixed choir and string orchestra by Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits (b. 1969). The work is being performed by the prestigious Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra conducted by Risto Joost.
Moorland Elegies (2015), a nine-part cycle for mixed choir and string orchestra, is a crowning achievement of its composer Tõnu Kõrvits’s magical impressionism. The work was premiered by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra at Tallinn’s St. John’s Church on 31 October 2015, conducted by Risto Joost. The cycle is shaped and animated by its texts: a selection of poems by the English author Emily Brontë (1818–1848). “Moorland Elegies is a journey into the darkest, most mysterious corners of loneliness: to where one doesn’t dare to peek twice,” Kõrvits has commented. The selection of poetry in Moorland Elegies contains bright, sorrowful, dramatic, and divine scenes that form no coherent plot. There are only spiritual conditions characterized by a certain poetical abstraction, which develop through natural imagery and spatial impressions.
Tõnu Kõrvits works belong to the repertoire of the most important Estonian orchestras, choirs and artists. In recent years his music has been performed more and more outside of his native Estonia. Beside Veljo Tormis’s shamanistic spells, Erkki-Sven Tüür’s energetic explosions and Arvo Pärt’s religious contemplations, Kõrvits’s sound world stands out as highly poetic, full of visionary fantasies. His music carries the listener along on hypnotic journeys through the landscapes of nature and folk tradition, human soul and subconscious. His oeuvre includes all traditional genres from orchestral and instrumental music to choral music and operas.
Risto Joost is the chief conductor of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and received in 2016 the Music Prize of the Estonian Cultural Endowment. Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, founded in 1981, has cooperated with some of the most well-known conductors and orchestras around the world and has won numerous awards in recent years, including 15 Grammy nominations. This is the choir’s sixth recording for Ondine.
Features
Sleeve notes and lyrics in English
The artists
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is one of the best-known Estonian music ensembles, performing all around the world. The choir’s repertoire extends from baroque to the music of the 21st century, with a special focus on the Estonian composers, such as Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis and others. The choir has two Grammy Awards, 16 Grammy nominations, Gramophone Award, Diapason d’Or, and Prix Caecilia, among others. BBC Music Magazine and Classic FM have both named the EPCC as one of the 10 best choirs in the world.
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1993 by conductor Tõnu Kaljuste. In three decades it has become one of Estonia’s signature orchestras and a welcome guest performer on numerous stages in Europe and all over the world.
Risto Joost
The young Estonian conductor Risto Joost excels by his specialized versatility and has gained widespread recognition for his work both in the opera pit and on concert stage. The trained singer and Conductor-in-Residence of the Estonian National Opera has already held major artistic positions, such as Chief Conductor of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir from 2015 to 2019.
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